A RT I S T
FILE
2011
Th e N AC T A n n u a l S h o w
o f C o n t e m p o ra r y A r t

Bjørn Melhus, YOBAN | NIGHTWATCH, 2010 © Bjørn Melhus

Kristin BAKER

KITO Kengo

BIRDHEAD

MATSUE Taiji

Tara DONOVAN

Bjørn MELHUS

IWAKUMA Rikiya

NAKAIGAWA Yuki

ARTIST FILE 2011
The NACT Annual Show of Contemporary Art
March 16 (Wed.) to June 6 (Mon.), 2011
The National Art Center, Tokyo Special Exhibition Gallery 2E
Opening hours: 10:00-18:00 (10:00-20:00 on Fridays)
Closed Tuesdays (except for May 3)*Free admission and open until 22:00 on March 26 (Sat.) in conjunction with “Roppongi Art Night 2011”*Admission up to 30 minutes before closing

Organized by The National Art Center, Tokyo

General Description
The ARTIST FILE exhibition organized by the National Art Center, Tokyo is an

Admission

AdultsGeneral Tickets

1,000

500

Advance Tickets

800

300

Group Tickets

800

300

College students

annual exhibition that selectively presents a group of artists who are doingsome of the most remarkable new work inside or outside Japan. This year’s
exhibition, the fourth in the series, features an international lineup of eightartists from Japan and overseas.
The forms of the art on display are diverse, including painting, photography,
ceramics, video, and installation, and the artists are concerned with a variety
of different issues. In spite of these differences, the artists create artworks
with unique sensibilities and ways of understanding that sensitively reflect thecharacteristics of the contemporary society in which we live. They convey whatmight be called the reality of the times in diverse forms of expression.
ARTIST FILE 2011 will provide an excellent opportunity to experience rich andstimulating artistic expressions peculiar to an age saturated with diverse media.

*Admission is free for high school students andthose under 18.
*Admission is free for those with physical disability
certificates and one accompanying person.
*Free admission on March 26 (Sat.) in conjunction
with ”Roppongi Art Night 2011”.
*Group tickets are applicable to 20 or more people
and available only at the venue.
*Group rates will apply to those with tickets or ticket
stubs of special exhibitions held concurrently at
The National Art Center, Tokyo, Suntory Museumof Art and Mori Art Museum.
*General and advance tickets may also bepurchased through Ticket Pia (P code: 564-451) and
Lawson Ticket (L code: 34478).

* The advance tickets can be available until March
15 (Tue.) , but at the venue until March 14 (Wed.)

MATSUE Taiji, ALTIPLANO 100676 , 2010, Video ©TAIJI MATSUE Courtesy of TARO NASU

Features of the exhibition

Related Events
Artist Talks
3/19 (Sat.) 14:00-15:00

One of the missions of the National Art Center, Tokyo is to introduce new formsof expression created by artists living in the present day. The ARTIST FILE
exhibition was inaugurated in 2008 to fulfill this purpose.
The artists were not selected to suit a particular theme. They were chosen froma group of candidates recommended on the basis of ongoing field work done by
the curatorial staff of the National Art Center, Tokyo as the artists who would
be the most exciting and relevant to introduce at this time. As a result, there isgreat diversity in the issues that they deal with, their modes of expression, andthe mediums that they choose. Viewers are left free to discover the realities inthese works to which they can relate.

Diverse mediums, diverse kinds of expression
From the first exhibition of 2008 through the current one, 32 artists haveparticipated in this project. Their mediums have ranged from painting andsculpture to photography, installation, and new mediums like video and film. The
artists represent a variety of countries of origin, ages, and artistic concerns. The
varied artworks presented in each exhibition have provided a compressed view of
the current art situation.

BIRDHEAD

3/26 (Sat.) 19:00-20:30
KITO Kengo, MATSUE Taiji
4/16 (Sat.) 14:00-15:00

IWAKUMA Rikiya

Guest: Ponchan Ningyo (ventriloquist) will tell astory illustrated with picture cards.

Artist Talk and Film
3/21(Mon.) Bjørn MELHUS
Artist Workshop
5/7 (Sat.) NAKAIGAWA Yuki
*Times and content of events are subject to change.
For details and information on other events, please
visit the website: http://www.nact.jp

Concurrent Exhibition
Le Surréalisme: Exposition organisée par leCentre Pompidou à partir de sa collection
9 February (Wed.) to 9 May (Mon.), 2011

International lineup and content
The greatest difference between the three previous ARTIST FILE exhibitions andthis year’s show is that we are inviting several overseas artists. Since the 1990s,
the waves of globalization have been washing over contemporary art. The worldof art has been tremendously stimulated by new cultural creation as well as
various negative phenomena that have emerged from this increased crossing of
national boundaries, and there are more and more artists who are actually working
beyond such boundaries. As a result, this year’s ARTIST FILE exhibition reflects
the trends of recent years even more clearly than before.
Considered introduction of individual artists
A RT I S T F I L E i s s t r u c t u r e d a s a g r o u p o f s m a l l s o l o e x h i b i t i o n s w i t h i n t h e
exhibition space so that visitors can closely examine the work of each artist. The
catalogue also takes the form of a set of separate booklets, one for each artist.
As can be understood from this exhibition structure and catalogue editorial policy,
an important aim of ARTIST FILE is to fully present the individual qualities ofeach artist and provide sufficient documentation. A documentary report on the
exhibition will be published while it is still up.
Synchronization of the exhibition with collection and presentation of
documentation on individual artists
The name ARTIST FILE refers to more than the general concept of the exhibition.
The process of filing documents on the participating artists and continuingand developing this documentation, which takes place when organizing these
exhibitions, is an important part of carrying out the function of the National Art
Center, Tokyo. The ARTIST FILE exhibition is a project unique to the National
Art Center, Tokyo that joins the exhibition of artworks and the collection andpresentation of information and documentation.

Access*Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line, Nogizaka Station (C05),
Exit 6 is directly linked to the Center*Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line, Roppongi Station (H04),
5-minute walk from Exit 4a*Toei Oedo Subway Line, Roppongi Station (E23),
4-minute walk from Exit 7

Artists

Kristin BAKER (b.1975-)

Born in Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A.
Lives and works in New York

Kristin Baker has been noted for her original technique, boldly applying acrylic
paint on hard supports such as PVC or acrylic panels with tools like squeegees
and palette knives and her choice of moments in auto races or accidents that
express speed and dynamism as subjects. Her paintings are frozen in a subtle
balance between ambiguous elements – figure and abstraction, geometric andorganic forms, straight and curved lines, and static and dynamic conditions.
They overwhelm the viewer with their large scale and vivid, eye-opening
colors. In this exhibition, Baker plans to show seven works ranging from a
painting completed in 2001 to her most recent work.

BIRDHEAD

Kristin BAKER, One Pyramid Nine Faces, 2010
©Kristin Baker, Neil Wong Collection,
Photo Farzod Owrang, Image courtesy The Suzanne Geiss Company

SONG Tao (b. 1979-)

JI Weiyu (b. 1980-)

Born in Shanghai, China
Lives and works in Shanghai

Born in Shanghai, China
Lives and works in Shanghai

BIRDHEAD is an artist’s duo, composed of Song Tao and Ji Weiyu, that was organized in 2004. They
began working seriously in 2005 and have participated in various exhibitions in China. In 2007, they
published a book on their art, XIN CUN BIRDHEAD 2006. BIRDHEAD uses simple cameras to photographthe everyday life of Shanghai, which has rapidly been transformed into a great modern city since thereform and opening up policy of the 1980s. They have won praise for their straightforward presentation ofcurrent conditions in China, showing the chaotic energy of the city and the disorientation and loneliness ofyoung people living there. In recent years, they have begun showing in the West as well as China.

BIRDHEAD, Untitled, 2010 gelatin silver print

Tara DONOVAN (b.1969-)

Born in New York City, U.S.A.
Lives and works in New YorkTara Donovan is known for her installations and three-dimensional works
made of huge quantities of familiar, ordinary materials such as plastic cups,
toothpicks, glass, tar paper, etc. She is one of the most celebrated artists in
America today. By assembling large amounts of a single material and treating
it according to a certain rule, she reveals features hidden in the material in
unexpected ways. Her works suggest a variety of natural phenomena andhave a sublime, poetic beauty. In this exhibition, which will be Donovan’s
first opportunity to show in Asia, she will present two large-scale installations
using Mylar tape and plastic straws.

Tara DONOVAN, Untitled (Mylar Tape), 2008
©Tara Donovan, courtesy The Pace Gallery
Photo by Dennis Cowley, courtesy The Pace Gallery

IWAKUMA Rikiya (b.1969 -)Born in Tokyo
Lives and works in Tokyo

Iwakuma Rikiya’s paintings are characterized by highly permeable thin polyester cloth stretched ona wooden frame. Vague forms appear on semi-transparent expanses of mediums like oil and acrylic
paint, latex, and poppy oil soaked into the glossy polyester membrane. As motifs he chooses primal
images such as animals and trees and, in recent years, mountain landscapes that are reminiscent oftraditional Asian landscape paintings. Iwakuma’s painting practice over the last ten years has beenhighly regarded as an effective exploration of the sources of painting.

IWAKUMA Rikiya, reverb (Headless sphinx, fleeing rabbit, false rabbit), 2007
Takahashi Collection, Photo: SUEMASA Mareo Image courtesy GALLERY KOBAYASHIKITO Kengo (b.1977-)

Born in Aichi
Lives and works in Berlin, Germany

Kito Kengo represents the new generation of Japanese contemporary artists
who have emerged since 2000. In recent years, he has begun working
internationally. He has employed a variety of materials in his two- and threedimensional works and installations, but he has consistently stuck to familiar,
everyday items such as hula hoops, inner tubes, umbrellas, electric fans, andcutouts from magazines. Kito eliminates spiritual and narrative elements of
the kind that have been closely linked to art in the past, creating an infinite
space without depth or center. This space is a kind of parallel world filled withthe small joys of everyday life that proliferate and become dominant. For thisexhibition, he will be making a large installation with a huge number of scarves.

MATSUE Taiji (b.1963 -)KITO Kengo, Untitled, 2010
Installation view of the exhibition “pig ment”, Berlin, 2010
Courtesy of Gallery Koyanagi

Born in Tokyo
Lives and works in Tokyo

Matsue Taiji has photographed many parts of the surface of the Earth –deserts, mountains, hills, and cities – from a unique point of view. His bird’seye views of landscapes, photographed so that the entire pictorial surface
is uniform and clearly focused, numb the viewer’s sense of perspective andscale. The viewer is invited into an extraordinary world that differs from real
space, a place where even time does not seem to exist.

MATSUE Taiji, BJX 41115, 2008, type C print©TAIJI MATSUE Courtesy of TARO NASU

Bjørn MELHUS (b.1966-)

Born in Kirchheim/Teck, Germany
Lives and works in Berlin

Bjørn Melhus is an internationally active artist and one of the best-known
video artists in Europe today. Melhus focuses on memories of sounds
and images lodged in the subconscious mind. Popular American television
programs and Hollywood movies, which have been dominant forms of popular
culture throughout the world, are particularly important sources of ideas forhis work. His humorous video works, in which he appears, encourage viewers
to rethink the relationship between media and society and the influence ofmedia on individuals. In this exhibition, he is presenting a large-scale video
installation with voices recorded from horror movies.
Bjørn MELHUS, YOBAN / NIGHTWATCH, 2010
© Bjørn Melhus

NAKAIGAWA Yuki (b.1960-)

Born in Ibaraki
Lives and works in Ibaraki

Nakaigawa Yuki has a studio on the side of Mt. Tsukuba where she makes clay objects withwarm, organic qualities inspired by nature. Many of her works, which are constructed with acoiling technique and take several months to make, are quite large. They have a strong senseof presence and can be placed in the context of site-specific installations in contemporary art.
Since the beginning of her career, she has been acclaimed as a new and progressive woman
ceramic artist. Later she participated in the annual “Amabiki 2011,” a unique outdoor sculpture
exhibition organized by artists, and continued working and showing ambitiously. She represents
the next generation of Japanese ceramics and is an important artist who pursues the possibilities
of ceramics in contemporary art.
NAKAIGAWA Yuki, Sink into Passivity, 2009
Photo: HAYASHI Masayuki

「アーティスト・ファイル 2 011―現代の作家たち」
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1

画像

和文記載およびクレジット

英文記載およびクレジット

クリスティン・ベイカー《ワン・ピラミッド・ナイン・フェイス》

Kristin BAKER, One Pyramid Nine Faces,
2010, acrylic on PVC©Kristin Baker, Neil Wong Collection, Photo Farzod
Owrang, Image courtesy The Suzanne Geiss Company

2010 年 アクリル／PVC©Kristin Baker, Neil Wong Collection,
Photo Farzod Owrang, Image courtesy The Suzanne
Geiss Company

2

バードヘッド《無題》2010 年
ゼラチン・シルバー・プリント

3

タラ・ドノヴァン《無題（マイラー・テープ）》2008 年 金属化ポリエステルフィルム©Tara Donovan, courtesy The Pace Gallery,
Photo by Dennis Cowley, courtesy The Pace Gallery

4

岩熊力也《reverb（無頭のスフィンクス、逃げるウサギ、偽ウサギ）》

2007 年 アクリル／ポリエステル、木枠
高橋コレクション蔵 撮影：末正真礼生 写真提供：コバヤシ画廊

5

鬼頭健吾《無題》2010 年
展示風景 :「pig ment」展 ベルリンの廃屋にて 2010 年

Courtesy of Gallery Koyanagi

6

松江泰治《 ALTIPLANO 100676 》

2010 年 ビデオ©TAIJI MATSUE Courtesy of TARO NASU

7

ビョルン・メルフス《夜番 | ナイトウォッチ》

2010 年 ビデオ・インスタレーション© Bjørn Melhus

8

中井川由季《受け止めるために沈み込む》

2009 年 陶撮影：林雅之BIRDHEAD, Untitled, 2010
gelatin silver print

Tara DONOVAN, Untitled (Mylar Tape),
2008, polyester metallized film tape
©Tara Donovan, courtesy The Pace Gallery,
Photo by Dennis Cowley, courtesy The Pace Gallery

IWAKUMA Rikiya, reverb (Headless sphinx, fleeing rabbit,
false rabbit),2007, acrylic on polyester, wood
Takahashi Collection Photo: SUEMASA Mareo
Image courtesy GALLERY KOBAYASHIKITO Kengo, Untitled, 2010
Installation view of the exhibition “pig ment”, Berlin, 2010
Courtesy of Gallery Koyanagi

MATSUE Taiji, ALTI PLANO 100676,
2010, video©TAIJI MATSUE Courtesy of TARO NASU

Bjørn MELHUS, YOBAN | NIGHTWATCH
2010, video installation© Bjørn Melhus

NAKAIGAWA Yuki, Sink into Passivity
2009, ceramic
Photo: HAYASHI Masayuki

「アーティスト・ファイル 2 011―現代の作家たち」
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